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A seven-nation army?

Of the guys near-certain to make the 25-man roster, several, as Waldstein notes, are from Venezuela. More are from the United States. Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo and Fernando Tatis are from the Dominican Republic. Ryota Igarashi is from Japan. Oliver Perez is from Mexico. Jason Bay is from Canada.

Not counting Puerto Rico — the birthplace of Carlos Beltran, Alex Cora, Pedro Feliciano and Angel Pagan — since it’s technically a United States territory, that means the Mets are one country shy of potentially fielding a seven-nation army and being able to employ the totally sweet (and eminently coverable) White Stripes song of the same name as a rallying cry.

Longshot roster candidate Tobi Stoner, though he grew up in Maryland, was born in West Germany. Reports all offseason said the Mets could sign Cuban defector Yuniesky Maya.

One non-roster invite, veteran infielder Jolbert Cabrera, is from Colombia. Another, lefty pitcher Travis Blackley, is Australian. Infield prospect Ruben Tejada — who certainly shouldn’t break camp with the big club barring another massive and terrifying run of injuries — is from Panama.

I don’t think any of those guys is likely to make the squad, but this has to happen. I don’t love the White Stripes, but Seven Nation Army is an awesome song, and probably as good a justification for carrying somebody who doesn’t deserve the 25th spot on the roster as any of the others the Mets have had in the past few years.

8 thoughts on “A seven-nation army?”

I’m on board. I’ve seen both the Flaming Lips and Audioslave cover it live. Sweet in both instances.

Flaming Lips cover of War Pigs was even sweeter, though, especially since they had it perfectly synched up with crazy video show behind them. Probably the second-best live cover I’ve seen, behind Beck’s unbelievable version of Nelly’s Hot in Herre.